Surviving Capitalism (Not) : High Profits, High Unemployment

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

High Profits, High Unemployment

by Gene DeNardo from Dissident Voice.

This is an excellent description of how the Federal Reserve (the US central bank that issues money "out of thin air" and owned by private parties) has served different, but important functions in different time periods.

In more recent times this money has been used to increase capital, that is, the implements of production to reduce labor costs. This plus the outsourcing of production and jobs to low-wage third world countries has created both high unemployment and high profits to the owners of capital in the US. The author goes on to explain how the ruling class of the capitalist system is attempting to manage this potentially explosive situation.